Huddersfield Town Study Centre is part of the national 'Playing for Success' initiative. This scheme is aimed at pupils from local schools who may benefit from extra help with their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.

Pupils attend in single school groups of 15 and travel to the centre in a minibus, escorted by a member of the school staff. All sessions are free to pupils and take place in the study centre classroom in the Business and Leisure Complex behind the Panasonic Stand. Pupils usually attend after school between the hours of 3-6pm.

This last year has seen continued growth and constant development at the study centre. A record number of pupils have attended the centre, the most significant expansion being in the secondary sector. Two local secondary schools have recruited for the first time, whilst sessions with our closest partner secondary have been oversubscribed and thus held on two separate evenings. Another local secondary has piloted a programme of lunch hour provision. This has proved very successful and is currently being repeated.

Evaluations of these groups, as well as of all our primary groups, show that pupils continue to make significant learning gains. Feedback from pupils, parents and teachers also suggests that softer outcomes such as improved motivation, greater willingness to learn, enhanced self-esteem and improved confidence have been reached.

The mentoring programme at the centre has also expanded significantly recently. Thirty trainee teachers from Huddersfield University acted as mentors at over the winter months. This partnership has been formalised and is to be renewed on a yearly basis. Our partnership with Greenhead Sixth Form College also continues to bear fruit in the shape of 15 mentors, each of whom have each attended for a full term.

Satellite provision at Thornton Lodge Neighbourhood Learning Centre has also been restored in the last year. A new member of staff, Nav Uppal, has been responsible for the delivery of this increasingly popular programme.

Heading for Success

The study centre and Huddersfield Town Football Club have agreed to form a partnership with colleagues from Huddersfield Technical College in order to take part in, promote and provide a venue for a new government adult learning initiative.

The 'Heading for Success' scheme aims to use the motivational power of football to encourage adults to take steps to improve their skills in English and Maths. The inaugural Heading for Success course at HTFC Study Centre is planned to start in late September 07 and recruitment is already well under way. Many of the course activities will be based around the theme of football and the club has kindly offered to provide incentives, prizes and rewards for each learner. Every adult learner that successfully completes the course will achieve a recognised qualification and will also have the opportunity to take their learning further. A member of the experienced adult learning team from Huddersfield Technical College will deliver the course over a period of approximately 10 weeks.

As the study centre is recognised as a well established member of the national 'Playing for Success' school age literacy and numeracy scheme, we would be happy to extend the offer of extra support with English and Maths to local school pupils within the 8-12 age range, providing that they have a parent/carer who is willing to enrol as an adult learner at the same time. Adults and children will thus be welcome to attend together, perhaps working separately for some of the time before taking part in a Family Learning activity at the end of each session. The theme of the course will be 'Heading for Success - Playing for Success - Together for Success'.

If you are interested contact Mike at the Study Centre on 01484 234153